Not Gen Z but Gen Next: How govt crackdown transformed the zeitgeist

There is a particular episode of eternally fave sitcom ‘Friends’ where goofy Chandler, despite being warned by his best friend Ross, blurts out that he hates dogs. The initial reaction, from his friends as well as the audience, and not necessarily in that order, is a gasp of disbelief.

After all, it is peak America, where dogs are held on a pedestal which two-legged humans, especially the migrant variety, never get. Having a pet dog is almost a pre-requisite for most US presidents, and dogs, be it on TikTok or in Hollywood, occupy that exalted ‘holy cow’ of spaces in the western world’s discourse.

India, too, has its holy cow, literally if not contentious at that -- but there is another, less talked about but universally accepted demographic that it culturally and socially always keep on a pedestal, that it considers can do no wrong and needs to be protected at all costs

The children, the young, and in this case, the future generation. Don’t call them Gen Z, but Gen Next. The repository of all our dreams and hopes for the future.

And when Delhi Police swung its lathis and shot off tear gas shells at this very vulnerable crowd, they inadvertently catalysed mass public support to a movement that was largely ignored by the media and this very public for about a month.

Because the action, and the reaction through a thousand videos that popped online, crossed a line Indians consider a lakshman rekha – as if brutality on peaceful protesters was not a red flag enough, that it was children, or the nation’s future, being at the receiving end -- that struck a raw nerve.

Suddenly, it was no longer a political protest, forget it ever being a security issue. No longer a conspiracy theory, or an ‘us-vs-them’ ideological tussle. Even the ‘this-is-not-my-battle’ nonchalance that has grown in India over several years started wearing down.

While the events, and the many supporting videos, going viral was a no-brainer, the universal reaction it evoked indeed was – videos of a 10-year-old boy being slapped sparked global outrage, while Bharat Banait, a protester from Nagpur who refused to be cowed down despite being repeatedly hit by the police, became a poster boy of sorts. Equally shocking reactions came out of a video of a Delhi Police constable caught on camera shoving his lathi at a fleeing girl’s private parts.

The PR disaster was so complete that Delhi Police was compelled to release its own video later, with selective footage of policemen being injured and protesters destroying police vehicles. Complete with pithy background music.

For a public that is used to political and social storms brewing, bursting and fading away – especially in the Modi era where nothing seemed to ruffle the feathers of a popular PM, the tide and level of the present seething resentment has been something of an eye-opener. This, from the same set of people who, till last week, were content to ignore the CJP sit-in at Jantar Mantar or Sonam Wangchuk’s fast, some even brushing it aside as ‘all political’.

What route the CJP protests take may always have a political hue, but what is even more crucial would be what India’s powers-that-be plan to do with the angst amidst its next-gen. And it’s an anger defined by a new age sensibility that defies older patterns.

Take for example, a campaign by many Instagram users trying to pinpoint what sporting and entertainment celebrities have said, or in most cases, NOT said, related to these developments. “I want you to remember that a lot of your favourite Bollywood actors, cricketers and influencers are chilling in their ivory towers watching reels of what is happening in Delhi right now,” wrote comedian Danny Fernandes on Instagram, “I want you to remember that their silence means that they do no care about you. They simply value their money and status more than anything you might be going through.”

There are murmurs this could be another ‘Sushant Singh Rajput’ moment, when public anger reconfigured forever the absolute no-questions-asked adulation Indians had for Bollywood till then.

While Kangana Ranaut, actor and ruling party member (and quite a catalyst of the anti-Bollywood sentiments that time around) and others have rallied around the status quo, arguing “protesting in this manner is not right,” some film stars, like Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah, have rallied behind the youth. Even Chetan Bhagat sounded pained when he burst out, “The anger is real. No conspiracy theory changes that.”

But the zeitgeist, at least for the moment, is with the Gen Z and their real issues. They have proven, if at all a proof was needed, that they are not all about going viral on 'reels' alone, but can walk the talk in real life, too. The bigger question is where this takes the nation, and it has nothing to do with the eventual success, or failure, of the Cockroach protest and its demands. As a Rajya Sabha member recently told this correspondent, “We do know from history that no agitation, no protest, no dissent is really a failure. Even a failure is a step towards success, towards change in one form or the other."